Bill Text: NY A02319 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires e-mail service providers to create a service for consumers to report instances of unauthorized use of an e-mail account and to report instances of unauthorized use of an e-mail account to the attorney general's office and the local district attorney's office; establishes the crime of unauthorized use of an e-mail account as a class A misdemeanor.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to consumer affairs and protection [A02319 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A02319-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2319

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 25, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. VANEL -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Consumer Affairs and Protection

        AN ACT to amend the general  business  law,  in  relation  to  requiring
          e-mail  service  providers to create a service for consumers to report
          instances of unauthorized use of an e-mail account; and to  amend  the
          penal  law,  in relation to establishing the crime of unauthorized use
          of an e-mail account

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
     2  390-e to read as follows:
     3    §  390-e.  E-mail  protection. 1. For the purposes of this section the
     4  following terms shall have the following meanings:
     5    (a) "E-mail service provider"  shall  mean  any  person,  business  or
     6  organization  qualified to do business in this state that provides indi-
     7  viduals, corporations, or other entities with the ability to send e-mail
     8  messages.
     9    (b) "Local district attorney's office" shall mean the district  attor-
    10  ney's office located within the county in which the owner of the account
    11  resides.
    12    (c)  "Unauthorized  use  of an e-mail account" shall mean any instance
    13  when, without having the right or permission to do so, an individual:
    14    (i) creates a false e-mail account using an individual's name for  the
    15  purpose  of  soliciting  money or another source of funding or any other
    16  personal information from any person or  persons  on  such  individual's
    17  contact list; or
    18    (ii)  hacks into an existing e-mail account and using such account for
    19  the purpose of soliciting money or another  source  of  funding  or  any
    20  other  personal  information from any person or persons on such individ-
    21  ual's contact list.
    22    2. All e-mail service providers doing business in this state shall:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06267-01-3
        A. 2319                             2

     1    (a) Create a service for consumers living within this state to  report
     2  unauthorized  use  of an e-mail address to such e-mail service provider;
     3  and
     4    (b)  Review any report made pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivi-
     5  sion within sixty days of receipt of such report.
     6    3. If, upon a review completed pursuant to paragraph (b)  of  subdivi-
     7  sion two of this section, unauthorized use of an e-mail address is found
     8  to  have occurred, the e-mail service provider shall immediately disable
     9  the e-mail account and report the account to the  attorney  general  and
    10  the local district attorney's office.
    11    4.  The  attorney general and the local district attorney's office may
    12  bring an action against a person who has been found to commit an act  of
    13  unauthorized  use of an e-mail account. Nothing in this section shall in
    14  any way limit rights or remedies which are otherwise available under law
    15  to the attorney general or local district attorney's office.
    16    § 2. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 190.80-b to read
    17  as follows:
    18  § 190.80-b Unauthorized use of an e-mail account.
    19    A person is guilty of unauthorized use  of  an  e-mail  account  when,
    20  having no right to do so, he or she creates a false e-mail account using
    21  an  individual's  name  for  the  purpose of soliciting money or another
    22  source of funding or any other personal information from any  person  or
    23  persons  on  such  individual's  contact  list or hacks into an existing
    24  e-mail account and using such account  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting
    25  money  or  another  source of funding from any person or persons on such
    26  individual's contact list.
    27    Unauthorized use of an e-mail account is a class A misdemeanor.
    28    § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
    29  have become a law.